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David Bouchier: Infinite Games

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These strangely unreal Olympic Games are yet another reminder, if we needed one, that with or without the distraction of COVID, this is a failed institution. What might have been (but probably wasn’t) a friendly competition between Greek city states in 775 BC has developed into this monster — too big, too harshly materialistic, too glitzy and far too much about winning and nationalistic pride.

Of course there's nothing wrong with games. All sports are really just games, amusements for an idle hour and we need amusements, especially now. Children, like young animals, play games naturally to learn physical and social skills, and because they have time on their hands.

The 19th century utopian Edward Bellamy said that, if grown men and women want to play games, that's wonderful. Games should be joyful, not stressful, and playing them will keep us young. But he also argued that, if adults play games, it should be for the grace and the beauty of it — not for money or glory. You have to admire the superb young Olympic athletes, but they don’t need a $15 billion international extravaganza to show off their skills.

Even children's games aren't allowed to be spontaneous any more. Before they know it, children’s games become children’s sports, requiring paid coaches, training and elaborate equipment. The children are assigned to artificial "teams" and taught to compete against other artifcial "teams," teaching them a lesson that they may never forget, even if perhaps they should. If we feel rather frail and vulnerable as individuals, we can feel strong as a member of a team, or even as a supporter. Team spirit can be inspiring, or dangerous, but it is never neutral.

Sports and games are said to build "character." But what kind of character? There's a world of difference between playing games joyfully, and playing only to win. The passion to win has invaded just about every human leisure activity. Even in fishing, that most tranquil of sports, you can attend seminars on "how to be a winner." Even flower arrangers compete to win.

An interesting suggestion comes from an ingenious book called Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse. The author proposed that life consists of two kinds of games. Finite games are like sports, or politics, or business: they have boundaries and rules and time limits, and you play to win. The Olympics, where competitors are ranked by 10ths and 100ths of a second, and subject to endless mandatory penalties and rules, are the ultimate example of a finite game.

Infinite games are less bureaucratic, more creative, more expressive. They have no boundaries or rules or time limits and, like the Caucus race in Alice in Wonderland, everybody gets a prize. An infinite game is more like an exploration than a competition, and you play for the pleasure of continuing to play. Culture is or can be an infinite game with infinite possibilities, and we can play it forever. Love is an infinite game. Life itself is an infinite game since it has no rules, and you can’t win.

Our world might be a safer and saner place with fewer sports that celebrate team spirit and competition, and more infinite games played just for pleasure. Or what shall we do for amusement, when all our amusements have become business as usual?

Copyright: David Bouchier

  

David began as a print journalist in London and taught at a British university for almost 20 years. He joined WSHU as a weekly commentator in 1992, becoming host of Sunday Matinee in 1996.